Best GTA 4 graphics settings for PC in August 2021

GTA 4 is often hailed as one of the best games in the series because of its exceptional storyline. However, the PC port of the game was not well optimized, making it difficult to run on a PC.

GTA 4 received a lot of praise from critics and fans alike when it launched in 2008. The drastic changes in graphics, gameplay, and setting were considered quite impressive for its time. However, fans would raise a myriad of complaints regarding several aspects.

With the new engine came new problems, as the PC port turned out to be badly optimized. It wouldn't run smoothly even on systems that met the system requirements. In the present day, however, it is much easier to run the game.

Since then, GTA has been patched to fix graphical issues, and newer systems are more than capable of running it. This article will assist players in selecting the appropriate graphics settings for GTA 4 to run smoothly on their computers.

---

GTA 4: How to set the best graphics settings for the game as of August 2021

Here are all the settings available in GTA 4 and their performance impact on the hardware:

Video Mode (Impact on Performance - High): This determines the game's screen resolution. Lower resolution yields greater performance, but players are suggested not to reduce it below the monitor's resolution. This would only be acceptable in case of severe lag.

Aspect Ratio (Impact on Performance - Medium): Aspect ratio is determined by screen resolution. Widescreen resolutions usually have an aspect ratio of 16:9. Reducing it to 5:4 increases performance, but at the cost of the screen getting stretched.

Texture Quality (Impact on Performance - Varies): Modern systems should encounter no problem in increasing this setting if there is enough VRAM available.

Reflection Resolution (Impact on Performance - Medium): This changes the resolution of reflection textures on objects and vehicles. Turning this down doesn't make a huge difference in graphics.

Water Quality (Impact on Performance - Medium): As the name suggests, increasing this means better waters.

Shadow Quality (Impact on Performance - High): One of the most important settings in any game. Turning this off greatly improves performance.

Night Shadows (Impact on Performance - Medium): Controls dynamic lighting and shadows. The difference between low and very high is hard to tell apart.

Texture Filter Quality (Impact on Performance - Very Low): Another name for anisotropic filtering. It can be set to maximum without much FPS drop.

View Distance (Impact on Performance - High): This should be a no-brainer. Increased draw distance negatively affects performance.

Detail Distance (Impact on Performance - High): This determines the detail of faraway objects. Has severe effects on some parts of map.

Vehicle Density (Impact on Performance - Medium): Increases car density.

Definition (Impact on Performance - Negligible): Turning it on makes the game look sharper.

VSync (Impact on Performance - Varies): This setting is broken in GTA 4, and players should use their graphics card's control center instead. It should be turned off to maximize performance.

The graphics settings option in GTA 4 (Image via a, Steam Community)

Some tips for maximizing FPS

• Shadows should be kept at High instead of Very High for increasing framerates without a decrease in quality.
• View Distance and Detail Distance should not be too high.
• Reducing Texture Quality helps reduce stuttering in some cases.
• Limiting the FPS from the graphics card's control center may reduce stutter in cutscenes.

---

Note: This has been made with the help of a's guide on Steam Community.